


unrest

by Marenke



Series: AUgust 2020 [2]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU-gust 2020, Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Post-Canon, College, Established Relationship, F/F, Post-Canon, Post-War
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-02
Updated: 2020-08-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:21:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25234591
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marenke/pseuds/Marenke
Summary: Ginny looked at the calculation in front of her, scratching her head. Luna, by her side, doodled on the corner of the notebook she carried.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood/Ginny Weasley
Series: AUgust 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1828096
Kudos: 32
Collections: AUgust 2020





	unrest

**Author's Note:**

> prompt for day two: college au!

Ginny looked at the calculation in front of her, scratching her head. Luna, by her side, doodled on the corner of the notebook she carried. She barely understood what the professor was saying, but maybe that was because she was still half-drunk from last night’s festivities.

No matter what Luna said, she was never following the girl to another Veela party. Sure, they had the best booze around, but Ginny was _also_ sure that her head would never stop throbbing.

Luna, however, seemed unaffected by it. She was quietly doodling instead of taking notes, softly humming along with the song only she could hear, and it soothed Ginny’s headache a little.

“I think I’m going to fail this class.” Ginny whispered, hands on her head, and Luna looked at her, silver-gray eyes curious. “I can’t get it. Anything.”

“That’s a simple equation, though. You just have to add twenty to the n, subtract the value the rune of Joy will give you, and then multiply everything by the potency the spell power table says it has. After that, you apply Ferme’s Equation and subtract n.” Luna patted Ginny’s head, so gentle it did not set off the drums banging against her skull. Luna always had the softest touch, faint, barely there. 

Ginny was in college for Arithmancy, because, as her mother said lovingly, Quidditch won’t pay the bills forever, you know, and since Arithmancy had been her second best class in Hogwarts, she figured she’d have an easy time. Right?

No. Wrong. Arithmancy was more complicated than what Hogwarts had taught her, but she usually managed when she was sober. Ginny wasn’t the straightlaced student her mother wished for, but hey , at least she hadn’t flunked out yet.

Luna, meanwhile, didn’t even take this class. She was an art major who had accompanied Ginny for the day, and now here she was, explaining the subject to Ginny.

The girl let her head fall to the wooden desk. Luna chuckled, soft and quiet, and went back to drawing. One of Ginny’s hands found Luna’s free one, and she decided, as their fingers intertwined, that a nap was in order to sober her up. And really, what better time to sleep other than in the class she wasn’t understanding anything anyway?

“Wake me up when class ends?” Ginny asked, raising her head just slightly so she could see Luna, and the girl nodded. “And hey, if you want to take my notes for me, I’m not going to complain, you know?”

“Sure.” Luna hummed back, and ginny let her head fall down once more, using her free arm to protect her eyes from the light of the classroom, soon falling into a dreamless sleep.

It wasn’t a comfortable sort of sleep: the noise of talking came through her ears, and it sounded too much like trying to sleep in the Room of Requirement: people talking, trying to keep themselves awake, people moaning in pain being treated from the day’s wounds, people snoring softly. Ginny, who had to find a suitable spot to curl herself up, had days were she slept twenty minutes, if that, before someone woke her up, trying to get her attention for some important matter. So, yeah, maybe this whole in-class nap thing wasn’t the best thing: it was almost like sliding back to the war.

When Ginny woke up, she almost forgot she wasn’t at home. She rose her head, groggily hearing students filtering out, and looked at Luna, who had been shaking her gently.

“Hey, good morning.” Luna said, with a smile on her face. In the light that entered through the tinted windows, she looked like one of the Veela girls they’d met the day before, just less dangerous. “Come on, let’s get you to your room, okay?”

Ginny nodded, scrubbing her eyes, and rising from her seat. Apparently, Luna had put everything back in her bag, because nothing was on the table anymore. She gave Luna’s cheeks a peck, and Luna giggled softly.

They walked slowly back to the room Ginny managed to rent with her meager grant money, and Luna kept her awake by talking about all the little creatures she saw around.

Ginny wasn’t sure why Luna hadn’t become a mazoologist, like she had dreamed of when younger, but she figured the war had changed something in her, like it had changed in everybody else. Ginny, in other times, would’ve fought her mom, would’ve gone against her wishes and become a Seeker for some Quidditch team. 

Now, she studied Arithmancy in college and hoped to become a teacher - somewhere far away from Hogwarts, hopefully. She’d had enough of Hogwarts for a lifetime.

Besides, art suited Luna; Ginny couldn’t explain why, but she knew that paint-stained robes and a paintbrush behind her ear, instead of blood-splattered Ravenclaw ties and a wand in her hand like a weapon, always with a spell on the tip of her tongue ready to fire.

The war had destroyed both of them, and what had remained had been barely enough to hold on to. They managed, sure, but at what cost?

The two arrived at Ginny’s tiny flat, a little apartment stuck between the space between two others, almost, and she fumbled inside, throwing her bag on the floor, kicking it underneath the futon. She then all but jumped into her shitty two-for-one futon, curling up, and Luna sat by her side.

“You can sleep here, if you’d like.” Ginny grumbled. Luna said nothing, instead simply leaning down, kissing Ginny’s forehead. 

“No, I’ll keep first watch.” She messed up Ginny’s hair, and it fell atop her eyes. She felt Luna reach for her blanket, covering Ginny up. “You can rest now.”

Ginny mumbled something that sounded like an agreement, before she once more fell asleep. This time, a restful one: there were no ghosts of a war long over to haunt her.


End file.
